I have always had a thing against people who harm animals for sport. i think it should be legal to do the same thing to them as they did to something minding it's own business in it's own habitat. Over the years i have picked up dozens of fish hooks, some in the sand some at the showers at the shack. i have occasioanlly picked up seringes which i know they use top inflate worms with air to make them appear bigger. All this makes me F###ing Ill! Needless to say it is a danger having lines laying around for birds to get tangles in and kiters to avoid. So today, I watched 3 asian fisherman bring in their supper, a 3' batray which 20 people all gathered around to watch squirm to its death on the beach. they were all afraid to touch it so it just sat there making these awful gasping noises. I asked them " Is this what you wanted to catch?" they said "no." So i said" why dont you cut the line and put it back?" they said " because we want ti to die, were gonna eat it."

So my question is, is it ok to even eat fish from the bay? Why is this legal? Am i the only one that this bothers? We constantly read about slews of asian fishing boats hording every last fish in the ocean and we are expected to not have any fish at all by 2042. I realize it is a cultural thing, but we are not in mexico or china so why the fuck isnt some environmentalist on this issue already? I would stab one of these guys in the eye for doing what they do out there if it was legal. I grow tired of seeing dead batrays on the beach without fins, since thats the only thing they use them for.

As a group of people that love the water, is it odd to want to keep our waters alive? I realize many of you love to fish, but is this humane what they are doing right here on our beach? i will sign a petition or do anything to get rid of all them in a heart beat if i had the chance?

gotta disagree with you on this one Yuri. Those people were not harming that ray for sport. They were going to eat it. I have something against harming an animal for sport, but that's not what those guys were doing. I have a great deal more respect for hunters and fishermen than I do for your average city dweller who eats his steak and not once wonders where it comes from. If you eat meat, you have to be OK with people killing animals.

now that that's over with, I'll agree with you on a few parts.
1. they should have hit the ray to put it out of its misery. it's only fair.
2. there is no excuse for leaving hooks and lines on the beach, those things kill sea birds.
3. it IS illegal to fish without a license. Fishing licenses are there for a reason, to protect our natural resources.
4. i'd be shocked if it was legal to kill rays. pretty sure that's a big no-no

next time, call up the dept of fish and game. but if they do have a license, and it IS legal to catch rays, then there's not much you can do (but i highly doubt either of those is true)

oh, and about the pollution thing? As a general rule, water pollution for bottom feeders (like rays) is pretty minimal. Fish at the bottom of the food chain are generally OK to eat as long as you're not old or pregnant. The fish you need to worry about are the ones higher up on the food chain like Tuna and Shark (they eat all the little fish and collect the pollutants)

Not being brought up with a gun and rod I have a weak stomach for watching animals suffer. i know we live in a cruel world and this is part of life. Hell, i used to watch my cat eat the tails off of lizards and leave them there to wiggle to death just for fun. It's just the whole idea of an animal not having a choice or a say. We, humans, have defied the laws of the food chain. We have found ways to live 100 years, use tools and cheap labor to live simpler lives that are numb and void of the realities of life and we are unfortunately the dominating species. I guess it's better to eat than be eaten but this whole kill for sport so you can show your cousin Jed your deer head on the hood of your Chevy truck is just so alien to me.

Anyways, i know I won't get anywhere with a petition but i sure would love to sabotage one of those guys equipment one of these days. I do rather enjoy kiting right in front of their lines though. That really pisses them off when you scare all the fish away. Happy cinco de mayo-lets go tear the heads off some chickens and watch them fight eachother!

Last edited by windhorny on Sun May 06, 2007 9:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

the other day we got a late pop of wind..
say 6 oclock
one of the fisher men set up right at the shack!
i was on the water ,so i came in to tell him to move it
it was a kite luanch area and his pole and line were a danger to us.
there was two dead batrays there..missing no fins the seaguls were eating them.
as i left at 8 oclock more fishermen were showning up
i dont think the park is open after sunset?
but ya yuri get on this one, thay just trash the beach
and kill batrays and leve the mess behind.

Plus they MUST wear the licnese on on their person in a clearly visable location.
I am all for reporting them to fish and game whenever poachers are spotted.
Its really a shame to see so many fishermen simply stab their catch then leave the animal to slowly die
in agony on the beach, with the fishermen just leaving the mess on the beach for us to trip over, along
with bundles of tangled monofililiment line, and assorted hooks that cause more environmental damage,
(and sometime injures beach users), plus the heaps of trash many leave.
I have NOTHING against responsable fishermen, but It seems a large portion of these people are from the
shallow end of the gene pool, and would be better off being road kill, so caltrans could employ more people
cleaning up their filthy remains from the road side.

One of the guys in the group did have his license around his neck but just like a drivers license, that doesnt mean you should go driving through buildings while drinking a 40 of king cobra! As i walked away from the mess i thought to myself, if they are eating this, is it wrong? I guess it happens to millions of animals every second around the world. I eat meat and fish and do believe that as humans we were designed to be omnivorous. But this is no license for cruelty! The question is, how many people would stop eating meat if they drove through Nebraska and saw how they punch a spike through the cattle's head to humanly kill it, by the thousands, just so we can enjoy a nice cheap meal at In and Out? It didnt stop me, but I don't feel right about it sometimes.

So back on the topic at hand. it seems there are enopugh people that also have problems with the mess they are leaving behind. If a petition got started are you in to sign?

Just mount a line cutter to your board. When you go to carve out a nice turn, your front edge will guide the fishing line to the cutter. Then the line is clipped, the fish lives, the poacher is pissed! It's a win win situation! You can do it as Green Peace thing and fly a green peace flag....

Deltaviking1@gmail.comShuttles available upwind from Pittsburg and Sherman all summer. Come see what kiting west has to offer.